After reading a story by Eric Prisbell of On3 about the loss of larger-than-life men’s basketball coaches, it struck me that we have, in fact, reached the end of an era in college basketball.
I grew up watching the Big East when greats like Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Pearl Washington, Derrick Coleman and others dominated the college hardwood in arguably, the greatest era of college basketball.
Perhaps even bigger than those players were the coaches who led those teams, including the late, great John Thompson of Georgetown, former St. Johns’ legendary coach, Lou Carnesseca and the recently retired Jim Boheim of Syracuse.
Unfortunately, due to the evolution of college basketball and college sports as a whole, the days of program loyalty by players and coaches are long gone.
But what’s really sad is that we’re also witnessing the end of Black iconic college basketball coaches.
Champions and Father Figures
The imposing figure of John Thompson no longer confronts those trying to insult, intimidate or punish young Black athletes.
Thompson remains, in my opinion, the most famous and greatest Black basketball coach in the sport’s history for he represented much more than the towel-wearing figure who roamed the sidelines.
He was a coach, leader, educator, inspiration, protector, unapologetic activist, father, mentor and role model. Thompson fought back against a system that exploited and punished young Black athletes and he proved that a small, Jesuit school in Washington D.C. could field an all-Black team, develop it into a national powerhouse and become a national champion (1984).
Another legendary coach mentioned in the same breath as Thompson is Temple University icon, John Chaney. Chaney, whose Temple Owls teams made the NCAA Tournament 17 times, actually began his collegiate coaching career at HBCU Cheyney State. He spent 10 years there and won the NCAA DII title in 1978.
Chaney, who passed away in 2021, was the first Black DI basketball coach to win 700 games. He loved his players and they loved him back.
“Coach Chaney was like a father to me,” said former Temple player and basketball coach, Aaron McKie. “He taught not just me, but all of his players more than just how to succeed in basketball. He taught us life lessons to make us better individuals off the court. I owe so much to him. He made me the man I am today.”
Joining Thompson and Chaney in the 80s was Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, who taught his Razorbacks teams to literally run the competition to the ground and then keep running. “40 minutes of hell” was the term he coined, and he used it to become the second Black head coach in NCAA history, behind John Thompson, to win an NCAA DI Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship (1994).
Behind them came Tubby Smith, who not only won a national title (1998) but did it as the first Black head coach in the history of Kentucky men’s basketball. If you know the history of the program and Adolph Rupp, you understand the significance of Tubby’s championship.
Indiana’s Mike Davis almost became the fourth but lost in the 2002 Championship game. Twelve years later, UConn’s Kevin Ollie joined this elusive club as the fourth Black head coach to win an NCAA DI championship (2014).
